Used Car Salesman for percussion quartet was commissioned and premiered by the Ethos Percussion Group at Hancher Auditorium, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa on April 18, 2000. Used Car Salesman is a tribute to the composer's father Willis Daugherty (1927-2011) who was a used car salesman by day at Rapids Chevrolet in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and a dance band drummer by night from 1955-59. In Daugherty's complex but highly entertaining composition, the composer has a created a musical landscape reflecting upon the world of the used car salesman. In addition to the percussion quartet performing on a wide variety of metal instruments from the metal scrap heap, Daugherty punctuates the rhythmically complex counterpoint with spoken text inspired from my father's recollections of his days as a used car salesman both real and imagined. When performing in concert, the percussion quartet is encouraged to dress like 1950s used car salesmen. |
